Two monumental staircases
One enduring enigma
“Two magnificent staircases all in stereotomy... inspired by Serlio, Delorme, Le Cerceau, Le Muet.”- CGart Architectes, mars 2025
Described as true “structural masterpieces” with minimalist décor, château de Lantenay’s two monumental staircases, are bold, inventive, and playful in their structural liberties.
The ensemble was classé Monument Historique by decree of 27 December 1963. These testaments to exceptional mastery of cut-stone architecture in the 17th century, inspired by the great architectural treatises of the Renaissance, elevate Lantenay into the history of that field at large.
Balance and Mastery.
The South Tower Staircase.
The South Tower Staircase
Its geometrical daring plays into the sense of verticality and movement.
In early 2025, historical and architectural studies commissioned from architectes du patrimoine re-examined the château’s two monumental staircases.
Inspired by Renaissance treatises and executed entirely in carved stone, both staircases combine two registers: a principal suspended flight from the ground to the first floor, and a core spiral stair prolonging upwards to serve the higher levels, recalling the Gothic tradition of exterior stair turrets but here fully integrated within the structure.
More refined in its finish than its northern counterpart, the South Tower staircase preserves telling traces of its original treatment: an interplay of bare stone and faux-joint whitewash, areas of lacunary plaster, and chains once concealed. Its stereotomic precision, reinforced by discreet metal clamps, is accompanied by wrought ironwork of great quality, still visible in its railing.
A true spiral-on-trompe stair, it embodies a pursuit of balance and constructive perfection that converses with the daring of the North Tower staircase.
The North Tower Staircase
Stone, Science, and Splendor.
The North Tower Staircase. An object of precision, each stone seemingly molded into a cohesive whole.
Photo credit: Philippe Charlot Photography
If the South Tower staircase embodies a search for balance and constructive perfection, the North Tower proves more enigmatic still.
It is distinguished by an exceptional geometry: a single circular flight around a central void, carried on a suspended Saint-Gilles core resting upon a half-barrel ramping vault.
This rare arrangement has been compared by the architects to the celebrated staircase conceived by Philibert de l’Orme for Catherine de’ Medici’s Tuileries Palace in 1564, now lost.
That stereotomic marvel, conceived by de l’Orme, represented the culmination of his vision and unified the principles of his treatises within his final and most ambitious masterpiece.
This link is what makes Lantenay's staircase unique.
Rising with its original 17th-century wrought-iron handrail, the structure ascends through successive flights, ultimately reaching the summit of the tower.
Strangely absent from all Bouhier writings, this silence only deepens the enigma of its presence.
Ici, on touche au sublime. Here we touch the sublime.
In their construction of château de Lantenay, masonry artisans redefined stereotomy as poetry of stone and, with its layers of legacy, seem to have bestowed it upon future generations as both a gift and a challenge.